Prophecy
9
The Two
Witnesses –
Revelation 10:1-11:19
_____________________________
To understand
God’s use of personification, we
need to review some basic facts. We
know that the influence of the Holy
Spirit is terminated in a
person’s heart when that person
commits the unpardonable sin. When
God’s Spirit cannot live in a
person’s heart, it becomes
impossible for that sinner to submit
to God’s two laws of love. Of
course, no one can kill the Holy
Spirit, but a sinner can kill the
influence of the Holy Spirit through
defiance. In Zechariah 4, Zechariah
saw a lampstand and two olive trees
that were in Heaven. In Revelation 1,
John also saw seven lampstands that
were in Heaven. Obviously, the devil
cannot touch these objects and
neither can mankind, but Lucifer can
kill the influence of the Ten
Commandments and the Holy Spirit by
leading people into defiance against
the eternal gospel. (See Prophecy
12.)
When Lucifer
sets life and death choices before
everyone on Earth during the sixth
trumpet, millions of people will
attempt to save themselves from
death. People will acquiesce to the
devil’s demands – knowing
that what they are doing is evil.
Everyone who rushes to be among the
first to receive the mark of the
beast willingly and willfully
“kills” whatever influence
the Two Witnesses may have had in his
heart.[82] When a
person commits the unpardonable sin,
there is no motive to repent! The
following passage describes the
actions of those people who grieved
away the Holy Spirit: “And the
rest of mankind that were not killed
[during the sixth trumpet] still did
not repent of the work of their
hands; they did not stop worshiping
demons, and idols of gold, silver,
bronze, stone and wood – idols
that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor
did they repent of their murders,
their magic arts, their sexual
immorality or their thefts.”[83]
The
Two Lampstands Cannot Represent a
Human Agency
Some Bible
students conclude that if the
lampstand in Zechariah’s day
represented the nation of Israel and
the seven lampstands in John’s
day represented the seven churches,
the two lampstands in Revelation 11:4 should
also represent some form of a human
agency. While this argument seems
logical, my response to this
conclusion consists of four steps:
1. In round
numbers, God has invested 6,000 years
in human agents (the Patriarchs,
Israel, and Christianity). These
groups failed because the carnal
nature of man overtook them. This
explains why the last group of
trustees (the 144,000) will be sealed
before they begin their work! The
144,000 must be sealed so that the
carnal nature will not interfere and
ruin God’s final efforts to
redeem mankind!
2. The two
olive trees in Revelation
11:4 and Zechariah 4:3 are
identical. The two trees represent
the renewing and endless energy of
the Holy Spirit.[84] His
work comes in two phases; the early
rain and the latter rain.[85] There
is no question that the Holy Spirit
reports to God. He is the living
witness who sees[86] and
hears everything.[87] (Remember,
the four living creatures are covered
with eyes. The phrase, “the eyes
of the Lord” is used more than
eighty-five times in the Bible.)
3. The two
lampstands in Revelation
11:4 represent one of
the Two Witnesses. I believe the two
lampstands represent God’s two
immutable laws of love because laws
can be witnesses and these two laws
are infallible. They define
righteousness and wickedness.
God’s laws of love testify about
the behavior of God, the angels, and
human beings. The Bible declares that
God is love because His actions are
always consistent with His two laws
of love. God’s two laws testify
without prejudice or fear and their
testimony is righteous and perfect.[88] Consider
the words of Moses: “After Moses
finished writing in a book the words
of this law from beginning to end, he
gave this command to the Levites who
carried the ark of the covenant of
the Lord: ‘Take this Book of the
Law and place it beside the ark of
the covenant of the Lord your God.
There it will remain as a witness
against you.’ ”[89]
4. The Ten
Commandments are not to be confused
with the laws that Moses wrote. This
is a very important point!
Moses’ laws were temporary and
written on parchment by a man. The
principles underlying the Ten
Commandments are eternal. God spoke
them on Mount Sinai before He wrote
them with His own finger on two
tablets of stone. This may come as a
surprise, but the Ten Commandments
are also called “the two tablets
of the Testimony.” Look at this
text: “When the Lord finished
speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he
gave him the two tablets of the
Testimony, the tablets of stone
inscribed by the finger of God.”[90] The
golden box that contained the two
tablets of the Testimony (the Ten
Commandments) is called, “the
Ark of the Testimony” thirteen
times in the Bible, because the Ten
Commandments testify. The Ten
Commandments are an infallible
witness. They declare what pure love
is and is not, what pure love will do
and will not do. These two tablets
measure every action and the Holy
Spirit measures every motive.
The story of
the Two Witnesses significantly
increases our understanding of end
time events. Consider what we have
learned regarding the Two Witnesses:
- The
testimony of the 144,000 must
be validated with two
witnesses.
- Two
witnesses are needed to
exonerate or condemn each
living person.
- The
two olive trees represent the
ministry of the Holy Spirit.
- The
two lampstands represent
God’s two eternal laws
of love.
When we
consider that the Two Witnesses will
be empowered during the judgment of
the living, there is perfect harmony
rising from the sum of all of the
parts.
People often
ask this question: “If the Two
Witnesses are two eternal laws of
love and the Holy Spirit, why is
their power limited to 1,260
days?” God’s Two Witnesses
are eternal and in a limited way,
they have been effective on Earth
during the past 6,000 years. However,
their empowerment is required for the
judgment of the living, a one-time
process that will occur near the end
of the world. This process will take
1,260 days.
Soul
Sleep and Pre-advent Judgment
Contrary to
what many Christians believe, a
person’s soul does not go to
Heaven or hell at the time of death.
The Bible says “The soul who
sins is the one who will die.”[91] At
death, the soul ceases to exist with
no consciousness. Even though some
Bible texts seem to support the idea
that souls are alive in Heaven or
hell, a dead person does not have any
knowledge or awareness of what is
happening.[92] All
people go into a grave of silence at
death.[93] It is
as though the dead are in a deep
sleep caused by anesthesia. The Bible
teaches there are two deaths.[94] Like
sleep, the first death is
temporary.”[95] Jesus
referred to the death of Lazarus as
though he was asleep.[96] The
only difference between the first
death and the second death is
duration. The second death will be a
state of eternal non-existence like
Sodom and Gomorrah.[97] At the
Second Coming, only the righteous
dead will be awakened out of their
“sleep.” Those judged to be
unfit for eternal life will be
awakened out of their sleep at the
end of the 1,000 years.
The righteous
and the unrighteous are tested and
separated prior to the Second Coming.[98] This
explains why a pre-Advent judgment is
necessary. Most Christians have not
considered the implications of a
pre-Advent judgment because they
assume that a person is judged at the
time of death and sent immediately to
his eternal reward in Heaven or hell.
Catholics believe that judgment
occurs at death and the wicked are
immediately sent to hell, but
“good people” are sent to
“Purgatory” where they must
suffer through a purification process
before being pure enough to enter
Heaven.
Apocalyptic
prophecy informs us that the judgment
of the dead has been occurring since
1844. When Jesus appears in clouds of
glory, He will resurrect the
righteous because He determined
earlier who was righteous during His
pre-Advent judgment.[99] On the
other hand, the wicked who are alive
at the Second Coming will be slain by
the sword that comes out of His
mouth.[100] This
outcome is only possible because
Jesus will determine each
person’s reward before He
appears in clouds of glory.[101] (Further
information about the state of man in
death and the pre-Advent judgment is
available in Chapter 13 of my book,
Jesus: The Alpha and The Omega.[102])
The judgment
of the dead requires the testimony of
three witnesses. The first witness is
the actual record of the dead
person’s actions. The second
witness is a record revealing the
knowledge base of the dead person.
(Each person on Earth has a unique
set of beliefs about right and wrong
and I call this set of beliefs a
knowledge base of good and evil.) The
third witness is the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus investigates the life
record of a dead person, He compares
the dead person’s actions, his
knowledge of good and evil, and He
listens to the testimony of the Holy
Spirit. For example, if the dead
person’s actions align with his
knowledge base and his actions
demonstrate that he lived up to all
that he knew to be right and true,
and if the Holy Spirit testifies that
this person was open to His guidance,
then Jesus has sufficient evidence to
determine the dead person was honest
in heart. On the basis of the dead
man’s honesty and fidelity to
what he knew to be right, Jesus
imparts His righteousness to the dead
man and he will be saved.
When Jesus
judges mankind (both the dead and the
living), He consistently follows one
principle: “Anyone, then, who
knows the good he ought to do and
doesn’t do it, sins.”10[103]3 The phrase,
“the good he knows he ought to
do” is a reference to our
knowledge of good and evil or our
conscience. Man’s conscience is
an interesting governor. Unless the
conscience is dead,[104] it
contains our sense of right and wrong
(acquired through parental training,
cultural influence, education, etc.)
and it is the doorway for the Holy
Spirit. The “still small
voice” of the Holy Spirit is a
gift from God to every person. Those
who nurture the still small voice of
the Holy Spirit please God because
spirit-led people love honesty and
truth. An honest heart means more to
God than anything else. When we
honestly know that something is right
and good and we do not do it, God
considers our action(s) to be sinful
because we have violated our
knowledge base of good and evil and
we have violated the voice of the
Holy Spirit.
From a larger
perspective, billions of people lived
on Earth before Jesus was born to
Mary. After He returned to Heaven,
billions more have lived and died
without any knowledge of His
redemption. To make this matter even
more complicated, millions of
Christians have lived and died
believing erroneous concepts about
God and His redemption. These facts
are not a problem for God because God
does not condemn people for being
ignorant! Salvation is not based on
knowledge (perfect or imperfect).
Salvation is based on faith and doing
what is right regardless of the cost.
The honest in heart live by faith and
their actions prove it! They do the
good they know they ought to do.
“Anyone who knows the good he
ought to do and does not do it,
sins.” This is not to say that a
person will be saved for doing good
acts. We cannot save ourselves with
good works, but we can show God our
love for truth and honesty. Jesus
bases His judgment of mankind (both
the dead and the living) on our
faith. Our faith is revealed when we
do the good that we know we ought to
do regardless of the consequences.
The judgment
of the living will occur during the
Great Tribulation and this process
will begin with global enlightenment.
The 144,000 will proclaim the eternal
gospel and they will proclaim to
everyone living on Earth “the
good he ought to do” (the two
laws of love). Naturally, the devil
will move quickly to make it very
difficult to do the good we ought to
do! Torture and persecution will
intimidate millions of people, but
the honest in heart will put their
faith in Christ and embrace His
eternal gospel. For 1,260 days, every
living soul will have an opportunity
to hear and thoughtfully consider
God’s will. Because everyone
will be informed on good and evil,
Jesus can judge the living and base
His judgment on each
individual’s response to
God’s two laws of love. To help
us submit to the two laws of love,
the Holy Spirit will do everything
possible to convict us of God’s
will.
Each person
will be tested as though he was the
only person on Earth. If a person
chooses to defy the two laws of love,
if he defies the Holy Spirit’s
attempt to bring conviction that this
is God’s will, the Two Witnesses
will condemn that person. They will
declare that the person does not love
God with all his heart, mind, and
soul and does not love his neighbor
as he should. Of course, this person
should not be given eternal life! At
the end of the sixth trumpet, Jesus
will bring the judgment of the living
to a close because every decision
will be made. The living will either
have the seal of God or the mark of
the beast. At the end of 1,260 days,
the work of the Two Witnesses will be
finished and their influence on the
wicked will vanish.
